Producer Amy Pascal reveals that upcoming Spider-Man spinoffs from Sony Pictures Entertainment will remain separate from Tom Holland's version of the wall-crawling hero and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the crown jewel character currently being managed creatively by Marvel Studios, Sony is banking on the hero's tie-in characters to build their own interconnected franchise. Kicked off by Tom Hardy's Venom last year, there's a slew of projects coming from the budding comic book universe, with characters like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter in the pipeline.
Sony is planning to follow up the critically-panned but financially successful Venom with director Daniel Espinosa's Morbius, which stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, the titular living vampire. Principal photography began in March and wrapped up in May, in preparation for its July 2020 release. Meanwhile, Kraven the Hunter from writer Richard Wenk, and Black Cat and Silver Sable projects are still on the horizon. With recent news suggesting that Venom could actually interact with Peter Parker in the MCU, what are the chances that these upcoming movies could also connect to the friendly-neighborhood hero?
Speaking to Screen Rant while doing press interviews for Spider-Man: Far From Home, Pascal revealed that their primary goal is to see these films stand on their own. That means that at this point, fans shouldn't expect any interactions between the new characters and Holland's Parker, since they'll be developed separately. Despite no current plans to integrate the films, the producer is nothing but excited for what Sony has in store for their own superhero universe.
Will the other spin-offs like Morbius and Kraven exist in their own pocket universe like Venom, or will they connect to Peter Parker and the MCU?
Amy Pascal: The most important thing is that each of these movies can stand on their own. So I think the first thing for us to think about is: Venom has to stand on its own, Far From Home has to stand on its own, Spider-Verse has to stand on its own. They all have to be great movies themselves. And then the possibilities are endless.
I’m really excited for Morbius, as well.
Amy Pascal: Jared is fantastic. Who could be better? You can’t imagine. It’s fantastic. I’m not involved in that one, but the studio just wrapped, and I think it looks really great.
Kraven is another one that people have wanted to see for a long time.
Amy Pascal: Well, that’s the thing about the Spidey universe. There are so many characters; we haven’t even scratched the surface of it. I’m always getting calls from Dan Slott saying, “But you haven’t done this one yet! You haven’t done that one yet!”
Talks of Spider-Man being tied in to Sony's separate universe recently re-emerged via claims that Eddie Brock might pop up in Spider-Man: Far From Home's sequel. Fanning the rumor flames is Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige's optimistic comment when asked about the possibility. According to the MCU architect, the crossover is likely, but it's up to Sony. Fans have taken this as an indication that he's actually looking for ways to make this happen. It's worth remembering that during the press junket for Spider-Man: Homecoming two years ago, there was confusion in regard to whether or not Sony's Spider-Man spinoffs were linked to the MCU.
In an ideal world, fans would obviously want to see all these tie-in Spider-Man characters interact with Spider-Man. But considering the character right complexities between Marvel Studios and Sony, it's not as straightforward as it seems. All that being said, the fact that the studios were even able to hatch an agreement to share Spider-Man means it's not outside the realm of possibility that they can also come up with an arrangement to expand their partnership. And with Far From Home introducing the multiverse to the MCU, that might just be the narrative that they need to finally make these crossovers plausible.
